test. Check one. Test check one. Check one. Test check one. Are we good, do you think? Yeah, it came through. Just need Test check one test. Yes. Great. All
right. Um, okay. I'm going to read the meeting notice so we can get started. Um, please be advised that on uh May 12th, 2025 at 6 PM, there will be a meeting of the Medford Comprehensive High School Building Committee held at Medford High School in the science lecture hall room
3B319 and via remote participation using the link provided below. The meeting can be viewed live on Medford Public Schools YouTube channel through Medford Community Media on your local cable channel which is Comcast 98 or 22 and Verizon 43,45 or 47. The meeting will be
recorded. Participants can log in by using the following information. Um the zoom link the zoom number is 9869143 8275. Um I'm going to call the role um to get started. So Jenny Graham here,
Mayor Londo Kern here, Dr. Galuzi here, Dr. Cushing here. Marta Cab Brawl here. Libby Brown here. Marissa Desmond here. Maria Dorsy here. Brian Hillyard
present. Tracy Keane here. Emily Lazaro. Um Nicole Morell. Aaron Olade. Yeah. Luke Pryner here. Joan Bowen here.
Bob Dickinson. Fiona Maxwell here. Uh Will Pipelli here. Chad Bon here. Lorie Hodgen here. John Mclaclin here.
Paul Russo is here. Phillip Santos. Yeah. Hi. And Lisa Miller here. Okay. So, we have 12 present, three absent. So, we
have a quorum. Um, I wanted to start by welcoming Lisa Miller to the committee. Lisa is one of our vocational teachers here at the high school. Um, as you all may remember from the last time we met, Larry Brown. um resign resigned from the
committee, had sort of done his his year, which is what he committed to do. Um and uh we asked the school committee asked that um Marta identify another teacher who um could adequately represent the vocational side of the
house, which is sort of the role that Larry was playing in that interim space. And she identified Lisa. So Lisa, welcome. Thank you. We're excited to have you. Thanks. Um okay. The next um item on the agenda is um our consent agenda which includes approval of
meeting minutes from January 23rd which was a communications and community engagement subcommittee and February 24th um which was a full committee meeting. Is there a motion to approve the minutes? Sorry. A motion to approve the consent agenda
by Tracy Keane. Seconded by Lindy Brown. Okay. I'll call the role. Jenny Graham. Yes. Mayor Longo Kern, yes. Uh, Dr. Glooy, yes. Dr. Cushing, yes. Marta Brawl, yes. Libby Brown, yes.
Marissa Desmond, yes. Maria Dorsy, yes. Brian Hillard, Tracy Keane, yes. Emily Lazaro, absent. Nicole Murrell absent. And Aaron Lady absent. Luke Pryer, yes. And Joan Bowen, yes. So 13
in the affirmative, zero in the negative, three absent. Um the motion is approved. Um okay, on to the good stuff. Um I am um as you remember when we met in February, we talked we um we did a
bunch of things including expanding our OPM selection subcommittee. Um and that committee h subsequently um got approval from MSBA um to publish our request for services which you all reviewed in in
that last meeting and approved and we published that RFS in March. Um we held a um a walkth through in like mid-Marchch with like 15 or 20 people in attendance to the walkthrough. Uh and then we um received 10
bids. So the OPM selection subcommittee went through the process that was outlined in the RFS. So we all independently scored the the 10 um proposals and created a short list and then we held interviews with the
folks on the short list, checked references and made a selection. Um, so we're gonna we're really excited to introduce you all to Left Field this evening. They are the apparent successful bidder. The contract is not
finalized. So what that means is we have to send a whole bunch of paperwork to MSBA. They have to sort of go through provide feedback. Um, and then we will have to go to what they call the OPM selection panel in early June, which we are scheduled to do. Not until that
happens can we sign the actual contract with Left Field. So, they've graciously agreed to be here on their own dime um at this point. So, thank you Leftfield team for that. And um we uh and then once the MSBA approves
the city can execute the contract. So, what does that mean? It means that between now and then um we we have got already gotten record requests um from biders who want to know how could I improve you know how could I improve the competitiveness of my proposal and all
those things. All of that has to wait until the contract is signed which will happen in mid June. Um there I've had a couple of you all request some of those documents as well and we have to sort of apply the same logic in terms of
responding to those requests is my understanding. Um but the left team does have a presentation to share with us tonight. So um that you know you'll get a copy of that to take home with you. Um hello hello hello.
Um, so I just want to stop right there before I introduce the left field team. Are there any questions about where we are in the process? No. Okay. Um, I still feel like we're in the paperwork phase of the process and I but
I'm super excited that is here because they're going to help paperwork. So, um, Luke, can I ask you to repeat the sequence of steps involving the approval process? Yeah. No, that's okay. Um, so we had to
um by last week submit a full package of information to MSBA and then from there the MSBA reviews the package. They'll respond to us with questions. I actually got a document and there was a sentence that was like two choppy half sentences
and they asked me to consolidate them. So I did that. Um, so there's some back and forth that we'll do um as they're vetting the paperwork and then once they museum of science um once they once everything is in order um it goes to the OPM selection panel.
um that that panel like reviews the submission and takes a vote to either agree with our recommendation or to I guess they could send us back to the drawing board if for some reason they felt like something was out of order and then we exit the project. So specific to
that um is it one of the regular scheduled one monthly meetings directed? It's not um it's not a board meeting, but it is a scheduled I believe public meeting um that happens once a month if I'm
remembering correctly. We're in in the queue for this upcoming month or have June. Yeah, June 2nd. Um we are on the list. Um they take a limited number of um communities each month like that. This
is where I their their process is like easy to understand but kind of rigid at the same time. Um but but we got into the queue because we because what we did in February was approved the RFS even ahead of the invitation to the next
phase. That meant we were like right there. We submitted I submitted all of the paperwork the next day and we were able to like get into the queue for June. So that that sort of speed and turn. We'll talk we'll come back to that when we get to the end of the meeting.
Um, but until we can get our team on board, it's just all of us in a room with some paperwork. And the real exciting stuff happens when you start when you can get the actual experts in the room to start thinking about what does this look like. Um, so I'm going to um stop talking and invite the left
field team to join us. So Jim Rogers is the principal yes of left field. Um, and then Matt and Linda will be our day-to-day people on the project. They come with a much bigger team. Um, some folks had vacations and different things
to um to deal with, but I'm going to turn it over to them. I just want you all to know it was absolutely unanimous um that left field was the right partner for us. Um, I think Um there are educational advisors also
really really good people everybody involved is just you know absolutely and I want to thank the committee so that was Dr. Kushing Dr. Brown, myself, Paul, Fiona, and
Johnson. So, we spent a lot of time together in the last turn to if you want to come stand like roughly in this space, Peter can like. Perfect. Okay. Do you have that we could
follow along with? Yeah. You want to email me? Yeah. So, there was there's electronic coming. So you guys see our launch presum really get this project going. So, we're excited to be here. Uh, again, Jim Rogers and the principal of
Blackfield. Um, ourselves, a little experience and talk to about key aspects of the project. That makes sense. have this conversation and as we move forward you connected to
Don't. Good. So, let's uh test one. Test two. Okay. 1807. Uh both uh public Project 12 projects
each island and That's it. Project experience. He's surprised. Oops. programs and high school program.
Um school and So this is just what we have. They're I'm alone. Um the next slide um we're looking at team and um with me tonight and I'm going to let them talk
about themselves in a moment is not Linda. Um but I'll hit some of the people that aren't here and talk a little bit about the make the team if you can go a little up. I think it's right now. Sorry. So Jen director Jen should not be here
tonight. Jen was traveling. Her plane got way late this morning and she came in very late and couldn't make it. But you'll like Jen very much. She's very experienced. She work used to work for the MCB. So she's got great experience in
the K12 sector. And next I'm Linda and my name is I will be your main contact your main senior that you'll be working with working closely with us. Um and then team of experts which we can touch base
on a little bit uh little bit about myself years. I started out uh as a general contractor. I worked for Consu Construction for about six years. So, I'm very familiar with how building goes together. Um and then in the last uh seven or eight years, I've been on the
side of the industry working on school building project. um it's more connection. Can you hear me now? Yes. Well, I just heard you. Oh, maybe we move. Okay. Well, I'm
gonna leave that all on all the fun things that are going to pop up. It's got an excellent screen. And then do you want to move it over that way so that Yeah. closer? I don't know. This is an exceptional microphone.
Okay. Can you just say something, Matt? Hello. Can you hear me? Yes. saying, "I'm getting word that YouTube can hear now." Okay, great. Great. Um, now that you can hear me, I'll I'll
do a quick recap. Uh, my name is Malino. I'll be your day-to-day contact uh in in your main senior PM. Been in construction industry for about 14 years. Started out uh as a general contractor and I've been in the OPM industry uh for the last eight years or
so, largely working on school building projects. Um, I live in Boston now. Um, I actually lived in Medford for about six years, so I know it well. And, uh, it definitely has a little special place, uh, in my heart. I lived over here at Wellington. Um, and, uh, yeah,
I'm I'm excited to be here. Uh, really looking forward to, you know, working with everyone. It definitely is going to be a challenging project, but that's part of what we like. Uh, and we're excited to, you know, hope you get a designer on board in the in the coming months. um and you know work with you every step
of the way as we uh get going. So I'll let Linda introduce herself uh and then we'll move on to the next part of our presentation. Great. I will jump up. Hi everyone. Um hopefully you guys can still hear me on the computer. Um I am Linda Leaporto. I
am one of the senior project managers um assigned to this wonderful very exciting project. Um my background is also in the construction industry. I spent the better part of the past 25 years in uh in construction
management and then OPM world. Um I have been working uh solely on school projects since I started working uh with Jim. Um and ironically there are 99% of them are high school projects. So, I've gotten very familiar um with uh what
goes into these projects um and have actually uh worked on some some very very um comprehensive and very tricky u projects that um for all intents and purposes were thought would not get passed. But, um through our
relationships working with the districts and coming up with great strategies, we were able to um go through all these projects. So, I'm very excited to be here. Um, I was at the tour of the school and I've seen firsthand um, how
every how well everyone has been doing uh, with working with what they have. Um, and so I can definitely see that u there's a huge need for the students and the faculty. They've done a fantastic job. Um, but I don't ever want to hear that that somebody feels like they've
been attacked by their building. So, I'm hoping we can um get started on this project very quickly. Uh it's going to be a very prescriptive process with the MSBA, but we've got some great team members. Um, and we have a lot of
experience working with the MSBA and we'll be here to help guide you guys through that process and then also figure out the best way on how to uh get the the rest of the city of Medford on board to get this building actually
built. So, that's what we're here for. We're super excited to do so. And probably for my last piece, I just I just want to stay there for one more. So, uh, the way the team is set up, if you notice, there's a top row and a bottom row. And you just me met the top row, which is really the core
participants. And if you notice there's a little, uh, star flag over over Matt's name. You probably can't read it, but it says day-to-day. So, Matt's going to be the day-to-day contact for the project. He's going to be supported by Jen and Linda uh, as you know, the core participants. So, that is kind of the
core team. On the bottom row, what we have is uh is we bring in the rest of the folks to support them and we call it the team of experts and they flex in and flex out as we need them as part of the project. Uh the first one uh is someone that Jenny mentioned and that's Dell Sans. She's our educational liaison. She
is a former superintendent, a former teacher, a former administrator. She went through her own very complicated uh construction project and the hope is she can come here help with educational planning, help with programming, help uh kind of translate the process to the
teachers administration. She's been through it. She can kind of let you know what she's been through, what to expect. So, we think she's going to be a key member of the team. Lynn Stapleton is our project adviser. She is our key MSBA adviser. She has worked uh like Jen uh and like some of our other people uh
have worked with the MSBA since their inception. So when we need Lynn's help on MSBA issues, we're going to drag her in. We're bringing her now Jenny on some of the concerns we've had about procurement. Uh Kevin Sullivan uh is going to be our public outreach guy. So Kevin just went through a very rigorous
um vote in um for Southshore Tech High School. It was a a technical vocational high school, which is a very difficult vote to achieve because it's not really owned by one community, right? There's four to five or 10 or 15 communities
that that really um share in the vocational school. And because of that, these towns all have their own priorities, whether it's a, you know, a police station, a fire station, another school. So, it's really hard to obtain a uh a positive vote for a vocational
school. We um did so with a huge effort and we were able to win uh Southshore Tech was able to to carry the vote rather uh successfully and we're going to use that same uh vigor and approach here to help with uh what seems to be a
very organized group already in terms of um you know uh trying to achieve a successful project. Uh next is Jay Faxton. He's our MVP expert. That's mechanical, electrical, plumbing. So he uh will come in at various uh times to review drawings. He will come in during
construction to audit the construction process. He will oversee the commissioning process and uh you will find Jay to be a valued member. We also have a move manager in Josh Brewster, a quality and design um review person in
uh Terrence T. Connley and finally a clerk of the works that will be out there for construction. So um it takes a village. We have a village. We have a very talented village and we're again excited to get going on this project. I'll say I'll do you want to be? Yeah,
I'll say capacity. Um, so one of the key questions especially the MSBA has and you will you will all have is you know what is our capacity to work on this project? Matt has a 100% of his time for example as a day-to-day guy dedicated to
this project. What we've shown here as part of this chart is um you know Matt's showing 40% of his time because that's what we think it's going to take. Uh Jen's at 30% and Linda is at 30%. But the key notion there or the key identifier says 30 plus 40 plus and 30
plus which means although we've identified percentages around 30 40%. Whatever the project needs are these folks dedicated to to seeing it through. So, the hours are just uh you know, a representation of where we're going to be, but we're all in on on whatever the
project needs are. Uh and with that said, educational plan. Yeah, I'll I'll touch on this quickly. Um question. Oh, please. So um
imagine over the course of the staffing profile, right? There's a kind of a crunch period. Maybe you start out with small team, get an idea of what's ahead. You begin to wrap your hands around it. You bring in additional staff. Your staffing profile grows. It
peaks at a point. um you would achieve some threshold that's uh a construction threshold maybe. I'm not sure. I'm just guessing. Key milestones. Key milestone. Um and then you begin rolling people off, right? Um so that's kind of what I have in mind. Um in terms of other
projects that you have, I know you're involved with the River High School, a very large project, almost 200 kids. Um and it began not that long ago. Um I'm not not aware of other ongoing projects you have but my question I can put that
slide back up. That's all. Um not necessarily just talk to it. Yeah. Um what I want to ask is uh for River specifically um where are you in terms of that ramp up? Yeah. And if
you know we pitch a perfect game and things begin serious in serious measure in in the year. Um what does your staffing capacity look like in the context of ongoing projects?
So first the the the top line which is the core group there came to this project and maybe one other. So that there there really isn't a worry about the core group because I have to sleep at night and I can't have those people all over the place. So the core group is the one that's kind of dedicated to this project. So there's no interaction with
River of the core group for example. It's you know they have their team, we have our team. It's the lower group to your point that you know kind of es and flows depending on the needs of the project. And in River specifically, we are in the permitting process, closing
in on a start of construction. And so, for example, Adele, our our um educational leaison. She has kind of dropped off quite a bit because we've gone through the programming stages and got through a large part of the design. So, she's been able to your point, the milestones have passed. She's been able
to drop off. Uh we didn't have a Lynn on that job. We didn't have a Kevin, a Jay, we have a Jay on that job, an MEP expert. He has helped in the design of the project going through the design milestones where we haven't got to construction yet. In fact, he doesn't come to the end of construction. He comes in just before
the ceiling goes in uh to look at all the mechanical equipment and make sure it's all installed correctly. Um so he won't come in until much later in the in the river project which will be even later here because we're you know couple years further down the road in in in Medford. So um and we have uh three of
Jay's in in that work for left fielding. I have three in left field, three MEP experts in left field. So, um I think the some of these folks do overlap, but the way the project to your point is staggered, I I I I I don't think it's
going to be an issue. And um I uh I I think we have um the right staffing to to control. But anything other any concerns about Ravier versus here that I can specifically talk about? I say concerns. I'm just trying to get a sense of what other projects do you have that
are kind of just ahead of us. Yeah. Is it only reviewer or is it plus one plus two? Yeah. I just want to build out. Yeah, we we can go through them one by one. A lot of them are in this planning stage. Uh you know um uh one of the ones I don't think we show tonight as I'm
thinking here is Brockton. So Brockton is the largest one of the largest high schools if not the largest high school east of the Mississippi. It's a concern, right? And that's why we talk about capacity, right? The MSBA sees we have 10 or 12 high schools we're managing. How do we manage those all, you know,
together? And that's how we we do it with, like I said, Matt has 100% capacity. I've always got to have the staff on board to be able to manage Medford so it's not impacted by Brockton, Ravier, or what have you. So, it's a it's a valid concern. um we can
talk about it further and I can you know tell you show you the staffing model and how that works but um I'm confident that we have the team here and the and the and the resources to take on that. You're welcome. Yeah. And I and I will say just like by by way of some color
commentary that was true of every you know of every ser like of every player that made it to the finalist list, right? Um, the folks that didn't make it to the finalist list often were much smaller or didn't have high as much high school experience, which sort of was
what weighted them out. But everyone who came and presented um had a pretty comparable story in terms of staffing approach timing and all of that good stuff. We mentioned the OPM panel um you know that we have to go through. Was it June 2nd? Yep. On June 2nd. And one of
the things they look at very closely is our staffing. Um, and so we understand that uh, and we address we address those issues, you know, directly. Capacity is program. Yep. Okay. Any other questions?
No. And like like Jim said with the OPM panel, it's one of the it might be one of the only reasons where the MSBA would say, "No, you can't use left field. They have too much work." That's not going to be the case. Like Jeff said, I am 100% available for this job, so I'm not on any other MSBA jobs. Um, I'm actually
not in any non MSBA jobs either. Um, so, uh, that won't be an issue for us when we get to the OPM panel. Um, but it is something that they look at closely. Uh, I'm not going to spend a ton of time on the educational program, but we did want to put it up here only because it's it's the cornerstone of how this building
will get built. Um, everything comes from the educational program. So, we're going to spend a lot of time working with the educators. Uh, once we get a designer on board, they will have an educational planner who is going to take the bulk of that responsibility, meeting with educators, understanding what you
need. Um, you know, what works now, what doesn't work now, how do we make it better. Um, so it's it's really kind of the again the cornerstone of of the project. It's what the MSBA requires you to uh follow. Um it tells you how big
the building will be based on how many students. Um so it's a very prescribed process uh and it's something that um we'll we'll spend a lot of time on in the early design phases through feasibility uh really until we get to schematic design through the first few
phases of of feasibility which is the preferred um sorry preliminary design program and then the preferred schematic report. During those two phases is when we'll really focus on the ED plan. Um, which again will will really kind of
dictate the the design of the building. Um, go ahead down uh timeline. Uh, just to touch quickly on some of the key dates. Uh, like we said, June 2nd uh is your OPM panel. Once that uh takes place, you'll
officially be able to contract with left field. Uh we are already working on the next phase the designer selection uh process. Um so we have pulled together a request for services for designers very similar to what you did for the OPM
selection. You advertise it. It's got to go into the central register combis. Um and it will be advertised for a few weeks. We'll we'll get designer proposals in and we'll start to review them uh as quickly as we can. We are
trying to expedite this uh phase of the project a little bit knowing that you were a little bit delayed uh with the OPM selection. Uh so we are aiming to to get on the July designer selection panel similar to the to the OPM panel. Once
you go through all of the designer selection interviews and view all the proposals, you'll make a selection um will make a selection, but there is a designer selection panel that you also need to go to um which which we'll get
into a little bit more um as we get into the design RFS towards the end of the meeting. Um, but that's kind of the next big key date after the OPM panel is trying to get on the July uh designer selection panel so that we
can select a designer and and hopefully in August uh start uh looking at different options, different sites um and and really kind of get a sense of of what this project could be. Phil, did you have a question? Yeah. So, we got a
copy of a draft schedule, right, with documents? Yep. and just listening to this stuff. They're just curious. I know you just said we're going to try to expedite things, but the the the panel is on June 2nd, but we're planning on submitting an RFS to MSBA on June 3rd.
Is that is this is this reflect that timeline in there as well? I mean, that seems very aggressive in So, can you just hold your question till we get to the RFS review? Yeah. Um, it is like there's not a lot of like wiggle
room in this process. Like it's a template. You cannot change it. If you change it, they will ask you to change it back. So, so it's not as complex as it sounds to get it out the door. It's really about like can we get in the
queue with MSBA for the right time. So, but we can talk about that as soon as left field is done with this part of the presentation. But we have teed it up so we can do something similar to that. Yes. All right. You want to go to the next one?
Um, you want to Yeah, I may think it's it's a little redundant based on the Yeah. Yeah. Jim Jim kind of touched on on the schools that we had chapter 74 experience in. That's obviously going to be a part of this project. Uh, something we're very familiar with. Um, Jim talked
about Adele. She had chapter 74 programs uh when she was a superintendent of schools. Uh so again a really good um source of of knowledge uh that we'll have through Adele uh since she went through it and and again it really will help the educators and and people that
uh haven't been through the process before kind of understand like how do I get what I want into a building and Adele will be able to kind of translate that that language a little bit between education and building at risk. Uh this was something that that came up on the questions uh
and we wanted to touch base on the difference between uh deliverables uh CM at risk and design bid build are the two kind of different contracts that you can do. Um the kind of easiest way to think about the differences between the two
like we have here for CM you're hiring a construction manager service to manage a project whereas with design bid build you're purchasing uh the building based off of a series of documents. So construction manager at risk you bring on a builder much earlier in the
process. They get involved um they'll do an early estimate uh in schematic design. They'll work on schedule. they'll get involved in the logistics plan. It just gets the builder much more involved early on in the process. Uh whereas design bid build, the designer will complete the do the
drawings, the specifications, all of the documents and then it goes out to bid and then low bid wins and then you move on from there. Um we will spend uh significant time talking about this yeah dual aspect of which contract methodology makes sense in future
meetings. So we just wanted to touch base on it here. It's too early, but we will we will talking about this at Monday. Yeah, it will be a definitely a big point of discussion for us as we as we get a designer on board and start to look at the options. It's definitely a little early to to start talking about
it. Um, we do have some examples of, you know, some preliminary site ideas of of this site um that we'll show at the end of the presentation and we can kind of talk about it. Uh these are all our K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K to2 projects that are being delivered uh
under CM at risk. About 90% of what we do is is constructor manager at risk. Um so it's something we're very familiar with. Um and and it's something that we'll weigh as we as we get into um further into the process.
Yes, I'll kick it into the next one. Um so part of what we were uh asked to talk about during our initial uh meeting uh which was a great more of a longer conversation uh which we love uh we
don't want to stand here and just talk at you so I want to go through this very very briefly but um what we internally talked about as a team are uh figuring out what are some of the challenges um that we're going to be facing with this
project and that's also guiding us through how we set up our team and how we can best help the project and and move them on. Um, and so I know there's there's a lot of uh a lot of pieces to this project. Um, but where we u usually
start with one of the biggest pieces um to to be helpful is understanding all the stakeholders. all the different stakeholders are all going to have different priorities and it's up to us to come up with a plan um to make sure that everybody has the right information at the right time to really make this
the most successful project that we can. Um if you want to move to the next slide, please. Um, I'm not going to talk in great detail about this, but um, community outreach is one of the biggest pieces that are uh that make our
projects successful. Um, and part of that is utilizing a multitude of different types of tools. Um, obviously in today's day and age, um, everything is is much more geared towards
technology. Um, but we do like uh the meetings where we're just face tof face talking to the community, inviting them into the conversations uh early on, making sure that everybody always has the right information. It's one of the
key uh components to a successful um campaign and project and getting a success successful project uh through the whole uh process. Um and um it's a great way for us to to sort of be the um
the outlet of uh we're factbased. We're we're here to support anybody. We're here to answer any questions. Um and that's what we continue to do throughout the process. Um there's um also a great way to involve the students in this
particular uh process. Uh especially when you have vocational classes and and media programs. Uh it's a great way for um and it has been very successful on some of our other projects is to have the students get very involved with
media outlets uh recordings, videos, um being at the meetings helping us. Uh they are absolutely wonderful key components of uh getting the uh getting the information out there. Uh so these
are just some of the newsletters, media, local media, Facebook, whatever. whatever you need us to uh to patrol, we will. Um the other item uh which is the next uh slide in your uh presentation
here is uh the project website. Um and we do many different versions of it. Whether it's an existing project website that we help um uh to update um and make it uh more projectoriented or if we start from scratch, it all depends on
the district and what their uh what their wishes are. Um but they are a great resource um for the especially for uh the group in this room to have just a QR code to send folks to this website. It's always
factbased. It's it's our what I refer to as a virtual file cabinet where all the information lands, but it's all factbased. So when when rumors are flying and people are asking you questions, you can just say, "Here's the QR code for this. Go to this website.
We'll have FAQs. We'll have all the information. Where are we in the process? Go to the website." Um, so it just um it's become a really really helpful tool especially for the school building committee to answer questions versus trying to remember what you were
talking about at the last meeting and then forwarding that information. So as we hear about misinformation or disinformation, you know, in the in the in the public, we uh try to create uh FAQs around those issues and uh and and as Lind Linda said, try to make it a lot
more factbased. So when we hear things are trying to drift, we create an FAQ around that. We give the real information. We direct people to the website. We try to control the flow of information, at least the control of facts as best we can. And the website, I should mention, also is controlled by
our team. So it's quick, easy to update. Uh that's why they're not always super flashy and high-tech, but they do get the uh information out there very easily. And then we also have the opportunity to update things. So if something is out there, we can act on it
quickly um and hopefully spread more facts about the project. Um we did um look at uh during the initial uh when we received the uh request for um services. Um, we
understand that there's currently three different sites uh that have been talked about part of this big process, which is why we're pushing so hard to get the designer on board because they're really the key player in getting this started. Uh, throughout the MSBA's process, they
have a series of deadlines that we have to maintain to stay within that feasibility study guideline that you have of about uh 26 months right now. Um so part of what what the design team and with with our help um will start
deciphering all the different options um we are actually required by the MSBA to look at several different options. Um if you uh go to the next slide, what we did was sort of look at we sort of did our
own version of um looking at your site, looking at the challenges, looking at the options. Um and we just started diving into a little bit your existing site because it's it's it's yours. You own it. It kind of made makes the most sense to start looking in that
direction. Um the MSBA requires us to look at both a new building and add reno and just strictly a code upgrade to the building to the existing building. The code upgrade requires you to not move any walls.
So it very quickly I have it on good authority that so far I don't think anybody has actually chosen that option because if you're in this program you most likely have inefficient uh classroom sizes and and hallways and and inefficient buildings. So uh but
they do require us uh in the design team to very very detailed uh studies of each one of the options. So what we did was just sort of look at look at your site. Uh is there even room for um to do a renovation? And the the short answer is
yes. This is this is our experience of of what we've done on previous projects and just having the experience of of being builders in our background. Um there's definitely an option of being able to do a renovation. Um if you go to
the next one, um there's the addition and even the addition and renovation. Uh there's still enough room. Um, and then everything else that uh anything else that could be added to that, whether it's uh trying to acquire more land or
or anything like that, are obviously going to be helpful and and uh be very very um great to study in more details to possibly maybe alleviate some of the traffic problems, for instance, if you're having more uh more leeway with
with a little more space. Um, but those are all part of what's going to be studied. And, uh, we've had projects where we started out with 23 different options that have been whittleled down to 11 down to three and then once you get about halfway through the
feasibility study, you ultimately have to make a decision as a as a committee what you think is the preferred site and that could be anything at this point. Uh, we don't know. Um, and you're going to be hearing that from us a lot. We don't know
yet. Uh but that's part of what the next 24 to 26 months are going to take you through. So this may fall into the relationship, but um this property strikes me that it's surrounded
by a lot of state managed ports. Um is it completely off the table to acquire some of the adjacent land? I don't know. rules are for an organization like the UCL that manages acres and acres of
forest but is in the realm of possible even considered it. It is absolutely in the realm of possibility. It has been done uh before. I haven't done it personally. Lyn Stapleton, our project advisor has uh done that process before.
It's lengthy. It's complicated, but it's not unobtainable. Um and these are all parts and pieces that come into play when the design team is on board and we start running um options and also of course there's there's the never- ending
um budget and with budget comes time, right? So there's certain things that might just not make sense because they're just going to be too time consuming and you're going to end up losing your MSBA participation because it would take too long, etc. The list is
long, but the the short answer is it has been done before. It's not an impossibility at all, but we as a team will look at all possibilities. But yes, it is too early to tell. Um, if you wouldn't mind going to
the the last slide, we just kind of wanted to uh to highlight that yes, you could also build a new building on this site. It's not out of the realm of possibilities either. Um, it's actually quite common for us, especially at high
schools, uh, unless you're talking about Revier, who just happen to have 18 acres sitting around that nobody got it. Sure. Great. But um if you don't have that luxury um a lot of our projects in particular the
high school projects we we do the the sort of flip-flop is you build a new building in the fields. You contend with not having great um opportunities for the athletics team for a while but you do build a new building and then tear down the old building and build the
fields and replace the fields in that location. So there is definitely um and that's that's also going to be considered an option and again that is staying within um the confines of your site but all this is going to get studied. This the the size of the
building is going to get studied. Um the size of the building is going to come down to what your student enrollment is. Each student has a required space. Uh what are the additional programs that you're trying to put in here? you've got your prek and and your um all the other
programs, district programs that are going to be in this building. So, it's going to be a um a fine line of trying to come up with that space. Really trying to figure out how big is this building? How many stories do you go up? Um do you build parking garages? I don't
know. There's there's lots of different uh the sky is is essentially the limit, but it's going to be coming down to the team to work with the school building committee to find an option that is um as I like to refer educationally
appropriate but also also fiscally possible. Um so that's going to be a lot of fine lines to walk in between, but that's what we're here for and that's what we're here to help guide you guys through. So I think that was the end of sort of
this is a sadly much shorter version of what the poor selection committee had to sit through. But um any there any other questions? Lisa the diagram is traffic flow one of the things that get taken into
consideration. Absolutely. Absolutely. the uh this is why the designer selection and getting the designer on board is so important because they will have subconsultants for just about everything. Um actually
if if you want to Jenny we could move into the uh designer selection process because that's actually one of the items that's part of the um as a segue if you wanted to. Yeah. So, um, if there are no more questions, the other thing that we did want to talk a little bit about
tonight was the the next step. So, assuming all goes well on June 2nd and we execute the contract, the next step is to bring the architects um into the mix, right? So that we can
really begin the study work. And um if you recall what we did with the RFS for the OPM back in February is we looked at the redlinined copy uh there were some suggestions made by this group. There was an approval uh a vote to approve as
amended. Um and then that went over to the MSBA. They weighed in. We finalized it and it went out the door and here we are. Um so the idea um that we the the selection team sort of was pushing as we
were having conversations with potential partners was how how can we accelerate to the point where we actually get to do the work right how do we get to the point where we get to do the feasibility study and so um I joked with actually
all of the finalists that it's like my fleeting wish that my son who graduates in 2029 sees the inside of something new um before he leaves. So um and everyone um laughed but I think they also knew I was sort of serious. Um and I think for
all of us particularly those people who have kids in this building now um every day is like one day that we shouldn't have to wait you know we don't want to have to wait anymore right so the question in my mind is how do we accelerate this process as best we can
so that we can spend time in the part of the process where time needs to be spent which is going to be this design this design phase. So, um, I did ask Leftfield to give us a like most aggressive path scenario to getting the
designer on board. Um, so I'm going to let them talk a little bit about the process because it's quite different than what we just did. Um, there's some similarities, but but the selection process is quite different. So, do you want to take it away and then we can talk about questions about the drafted RFS that we send out? Marissa, I just
want to clarify this is purely the designer for the feasibility study. Correct. Correct. Right. There's an option. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Guaranteed that they will. Okay. Exactly. Yeah. So everything that we're doing at right now
it's all for the first stage which is the feasibility study that we currently have running for about 26 months. Um, part of that is the first part as as Jenny mentioned is the designer selection process. It's part of MSBA's
module of how you form the team that are going to be uh looking at this building. Um, and so the the DSP is the designer selection panel, which is an actual 13 member panel that the MSBA actually has
already assigned. It's a series of of uh folks that have architectural engineering background, school background, um all sort of all related to this. Um they have a very rigid process. Um as you mentioned, the
designer RFS is basically it's a 12page word document where you can change the name of the school and the number of enrollment and the square footage that you currently have and that's about it. um MSBA is is is then in charge of reviewing that provided that you haven't
made any changes to the document. Uh which is why we already started working on that in the background. Then they have monthly they have two meetings every month where the first one is sort of a a review process uh with that designer selection panel and then you
have three panel members from the district. So you're three from here and then 13 from the MSBA. So you then have the whole um designer RFS process which you have asked some questions about earlier. So
the the key is that we want to try and get that out for advertisement as quickly as possible. The MSBA has a certain review time that they require. I think it's 10 business days just to review that word document that you can't really change. So there, that's when the
clock starts ticking, right? And then we we advertise. Central Register only advertises on Wednesdays. So now your your timeline is is crunched a little bit further. Um, but the way we've laid the schedule out is to literally the the
day after where we've been blessed as the OPM uh for um by the MSBA on that OPM panel, which we've done on every single project. Never had any issues. We're not anticipating any issues. I was in one today. I was in the May's version
today. Exactly. Um and so those uh once we get through that, we'll be able to start helping with the designer uh selection process right away. So the RFS, we've already created the draft and sent it to uh to Jenny to send it over
to the MSBA so they can start their review time. We advertise. It has to be out for advertisement for three weeks. We have to have a walkth through for the design firms. They then submit their proposals and then left field has a
series of reviews that we have to do um for all the uh design firms that have submitted uh designer uh proposals. Um most of those documents you'll see some examples in the little package that we
uh gave here. Uh most of them are references. Um and they do also ask us to fill out a long list of who the um subconsultants are. Um which is where there'll be one for traffic, there'll be one for educational programming,
there'll be one for hazmat material, one for geo geotech, and all the different categories. And so what we will do is we will go through all these proposals and fill out all the the required documents that then goes to the MSBA. The reason
why the the timeline is so tight because once we get all those proposals submitted, we then have to turn this around and send it to the MSBA very very quickly. So I think we've allotted actually a week to just get all that information over to the MSBA because
they will not put you in the district on the list of those upcoming meetings unless they have all this documentation in hand. So and I think one of the things that wasn't immediately clear to me about how different this is is this
panel of 13 will pick our designer and we have three seats at that table. The other 10 seats are MSBA seats. So, people who don't live in Medford, have no connection to us, but obviously have
connections in the industry and are um representatives of MSBA because they will play a significant financial role in all of this. Um they will out they will have more votes than Medford does in who the who um the designer ultimately is. So, and I think the other
thing that wasn't clear to me necessarily like at the beginning because it is like a complete departure from what we just did is that those three seats for Medford are the mayor, the superintendent and one designate from the school committee. So, that is
how the team gets formed from Medford's perspective. Um, and then they part they are participants in this broader panel of 13. Um, and the panel uh the panel makes the decision about who our
designer will ultimately be and it's all numbers based right there. So there's at the end of each one of those two um panel meetings there'll be an actual vote where they just rank the proposals. So, it's important for our team to
review these documents and these these proposals as they come in from the design firms to make sure that we give you guidance of who's done this before, who's who's got the right consultants, who's got the right team, what other
projects are they working on for uh uh or of spending time on do they have the do they have the time and efforts? um what is the um experience level of their senior team or do they have a lot of people or fewer people on their team
etc. All those things are up to us to give the guidance to the three members so that the members can can go into this with a clear view of who you'd like and who you'd like to be um the finalists.
That's the interview process. How does that then RFPs get narrowed down to the short list for interviews? Is that the same 13? Yes. Yeah. So that's the first meeting. So we have two meetings in in July that we're aiming for. So at the first one they will do start ranking for
interviews and then the second meeting at the end of that month is when they actually have the actual interviews. Everything is done virtual uh with the MSBA. There's no inperson meetings anymore. Um but they they will rank
them. Um and if you don't have enough um folks that actually um submit proposals, which I don't see that as being an issue at all, we we've already heard people that are showing interest. Um so I don't see that as as being an issue, but um
but definitely as Jenny mentioned, you're you're three out of the 13, so there's a lot of opinions. Um and but it's important to get the right um design firm selected. Again, this is also at this point just
qualificationbased. So once they've designated the r top ranked firm, you then go into contract negotiations. And if they can't agree on a contract amount that fits the budget for the Medford High School project, you're allowed to
go to the next the second rank, but you have to go in the order of the the firms that have been ranked. And yes, we just went through that on a different project where the top ranked firm just wouldn't budge and the district kind of felt like this is not the team player that we want
to really work with. Um but again it just the process the the time right is Philip are the meetings the MSBA meetings the committee meetings public at all or only those 13 people attend they're public y yep they're actually
published on the MSBA project website so you're you're welcome to attend even if Medford is not there. There's no input then. No. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Tracy, so Linda or Jim um if communic is this part what
I'm trying to think about what I'm what's wrong in my head is that we only have three people from Medford and your experience other dealing with this. How have you related that to the community? because it seems like it's going to be, you
know, only three people from every get to decide who the design is going to be. Seems kind of a huge uh one of those FAQs that you've been talking about in terms of communicating with the community. Yeah. Um one of the keys from that perspective uh with the you know
where it's three versus the larger uh MSBA panel is they do ask your opinion first. So you can kind of set the tone as to what you saw, what you thought about and um that kind of sets the tone in the room for what you're thinking.
And for the most part, they try to go along with that and they try to support that. There are times they don't. For example, if the architect we all love just want a job, guess what? The MSBA is probably not going to, you know, be as supportive because they try to right um
make sure everyone's well balanced in terms of the design community. So there's and we know that like we'll know the architects we're talking about in in these in these uh in our in our deliberations may have just won a job. So we'll we'll we'll help inform you the public and and and this committee
specifically about what we know about the specific architects we're talking about who are proposed. You know, Libby, you'll know that, you know, uh, also, are we looking for someone that is kind of more meat and potatoes architect that is is going to just kind of um give a
design to budget or are we looking for someone that's going to push the uh the design edge, right? Give us something really exciting that sometimes reflects the personality of the committee we're dealing with. Sometimes people want to see, you know, a design push. Sometimes people want to see a, you know, a very
basic design that that fits their budget needs. So, we're going to learn a lot about you. We're going to help you talk. We're going to let you know what those what the personalities of the architects are. Um, you know, have they want a job? You know, all the things that go into what the MSBA might be thinking. But I repeat myself. We at least have the
chance to leave that meeting off uh and talk about what we saw, what we find, what what what we want, meaning, you know, Medford. And um and I that that that does set the tone in the room. And I think just to also in sort of retrospect the the flip side of that
conversation when you're talking to the public, right? Why didn't you have more of a why doesn't Medford have more of a voice? I think the key point to highlight is MSBA is an organization. They are your funding partner. They have
very strict guidelines that unfortunately if you've applied for this program, you're going to get some significant dollars from them. And unfortunately, one of the drawbacks are that they have a very prescriptive process, right? So people are going to question time frames, timelines,
reimbursement, all those parts and pieces. And that's what we're here to help to make sure that you get as much as possible of what Medford needs and wants, but still getting the maximum reimbursement from the MSBA and and that
sort of goes throughout the whole process. But yes, there are some guidelines that they are very prescriptive with uh because they do participate in a lot of money um on these projects. So it's kind of a little bit of a give and take I would say in that aspect. But the key point for us is
always to make sure that the three members of the district that goes into this have a clearance what they want and what the district wants and have that information to be able to give that to the uh uh the panel as you go into these
meetings. That's that's going to be the key and it's up to us to educate those members and the school building committee on those um when we are going into our second meeting where the actual selection will
happen. Is it just us or are there going to be people queued up just before us and they could literally choose the person that was our favorite like 10 minutes before we come on? Yeah, it's happened. Yep. Yeah. Okay. So, y'all got to be prepared to
change your minds in a second. Yeah. I think one thing to just keep in mind about this process is that like by the time we get to the point where we're selecting who's going to be the designer, everybody is extremely qualified. Everybody like all those firms are going to be very qualified.
They all have passed like the rigorous requirements to even get to that point. So that like you know it's kind of six of one half dozen of the other at the end of the day. Um obviously we're all going to have our preference of who we want it to be but like we as a community
might not even all agree on who that one awesome one is going to be. And then just separately another talking point that I think can help bring people along in the process about us not having or Medford as a community not having as big a say in the in the whole thing is that
we have never done this before. like we don't have the expertise. The MSBA has the expertise. They're the ones who we're like bringing along as our partner to help us guide us through this process to make sure that we get the best designer, the best building, the best project that we can get out of it at the
end of the day. You experience, have you offered to readjust their reimbursement based on the cost of the project? um you know in the worst case they offer a reimbursement rate say 50%.
But then when the project finalized the cost of 50% would exceed NSDA's appetite for so just you encounter examples of that. Uh short
answer is yes and that is going to happen. Um and stay tuned for the 10-page presentation on MSBA reimbursements, how it works, what's to come. Um it's a series of uh that in
short terms they give you a reimbursement rate on day one which is only applicable to the feasibility study. After that, when it comes to your actual project reimbursement, there's a entirely different scenario. They start
with that same percentage. Yes. But then there's a series of caps for construction, for site work, for ineligible items such as pools and and um other items that they deem ineligible. So it's it's our job and the
designers job to make sure that from the beginning when you start the design of that building figuring out weighing those options, right? what's what's going to be what's going to be the most beneficial to Medford and the students and the faculty. And yes, that might
mean that MSBA's reimbursement rate is going to go down. There will be items that they're not going to reimburse you on. Um, and that it's a very long, very complex process. Uh but in short, by the
time you finish the feasibility study, you then sign the uh the project funding agreement with the MSBA, which is what lends leads the project to move forward into actual design, final design and construction. And at that point, you
will have their what they refer to as their final offer. and you will know going into that next step what the reimbursement is going to be provided that of course you don't make changes during construction and start shifting things because then again that reimbursement is going to start
shifting. Um but more to come on that lots of lengthy uh very complex calculations and uh you will love to see the spreadsheet that we refer to as the 311. Yeah, we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves here, right? This is an
introduction, but Bill, we're going to have meetings on the designer selection process. We're going to have meetings on uh eligibility and and funding. We're going to have meetings on, you know, CM at risk versus lump sum that designed been built. So, um you know, and that's
where the community engagement comes in. Yep. There'll be lots of meetings. Um and this is again, this is just the the beginning. This is just a feasibility study. Um, and so, uh, I think it's important to know also going back to the
designer selection, um, and that whole process is that the contract that you're signing that you're negotiating with that design firm is only for the feasibility study. At the end of that once you have schematic design is finished and the project is sort of
finalized to a certain extent then the OPM and the uh design firm will give you proposals as well as the CM if you have one on board. Um and that'll be part of that uh the project budget moving forward. Uh but everything that we're
doing right now is only through feasibility study. Erica, did I see your hand in the back? Yeah. I was wondering if you could speak to how unique this process is for schools in particular because I think to Tracy's point about community questions
about why did it happen this way and people's reference point is likely other construction projects that they've been involved in. And so is this typical across building projects or is this really a singular experience for the
MSBA project? Maybe Marissa is also answer when I when my work was rebuilt this happened and with this right this is what is going to be imitated and so I'm curious if you can in a nutshell this is
MSBA yeah the the specialty part has four letters in it it's MSBA u MSBA's process is a series of modules with very prescriptive forms that have to be filled out. They have scheduled dates
for their meetings. You'll have you'll have to go through different steps of meetings, all that are very prescriptive, all public meetings, but they've already published the dates for the entire year of 2025. So, we already know that the good part is we already
know. So, we can start planning ahead. The bad part is that we don't know what's going to happen in 2026. But fortunately for us, the MSBA is very rigorous and very restrictive. We already know, we can sort of guess what the dates are going to be in 2026
because we know that they take a break in February and there are no board meetings in March. The panel compositions exactly selection process that Yeah. So you have a series of of different panels and committees that you that you deal with throughout the
umbrella of the MSBA. And this I believe is very unique for any public work. We do a lot of municipal projects uh right with uh libraries and town hall and fire departments and public safeties and we
work on public uh colleges with some of the authorities we we talked about. But um it's very different. You're right. This process is unique to all goes uh as Linda keeps using and it's true. It's like a black box. is very prescriptive on how we move forward and we're going
to we're going to follow on with those rules with you and and educate the this team as we go. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions about anything you've heard so far? Um, so you all should have received the
markedup copy of the RFS that we um ultimately need to prepare to send to MSBA to um get that designer selection out on the street. Um what a couple of notes um about it. As Linda said,
there's very little opportunity to change anything. And if you change something, they will tell you to change it back. Um, but any place that um was for us to infuse information about Medford, all of that information
is practically identical to what was published in our RFS to hire the OPM, which has already been like vetted and approved by the MSBA. So, um, they this came together so quickly because Matt is dedicated to our project, but also
because he had lots of good material to work with to actually sort of infuse the Medford specifics into this document. So, having said all of that, like changes are welcome as long as you're not asking me to change something that
MSBA doesn't allow us to change. But I did want to ask this group as you review this, do you have questions or things you would like to see us tweak in here? Um, and or are you ready to take a vote to
approve? So, first questions, Philip. So, the only question I have it seems like everything's prescriptive and I've read the most stuff. It's mostly fine. It's really on the timeline of the of issuing out the RFS and the
selection, right? It's three weeks. So, we talked about the importance of hiring of the right designer and there's really not much else to control, but that is something we control the timeline. Is that enough time for designers to evaluate all the information, the uniqueness of the site, the constraints
that we have to pull together a strong proposal so that we can best that they understand what the project is, right? three weeks teams because these designers are also going to be doing a full-time job which is designing buildings or whatever they're doing. So, they're going to be fitting these proposals
in at as an extra, right? So, three weeks just seem impressed. I know that we're trying to meet a deadline, but I also think that we make the wrong selection, it hurts even more because you want to find the right designer to get through the schematic and then hopefully they're good enough where they're going to go through the entire
thing. You want to change designers after that, right? So we um we allowed the OPMs three weeks. So we provided like the same quick timeline and we had 10 respondents. Um I believe there were
probably some architects in the like ether um during our during our tour. Um I don't know I don't know who they were, but they're they're already here. They're watching our meetings and all of that good stuff. Um, and when I told the
MSBA that we had 10 respondents, they were like, "Wow." So, that even seemed like a lot of interest um to what they typically see. So, I think the three weeks didn't harm us in the OPM selection process. So, that's like my
data, the data point I can share. Um, but you all might have some other data to share. Yeah. May I? Yeah. sitting on the other side of that table. The good part is that the RFS is very prescriptive. The good news is that
that's very prescriptive. So, if they've applied, if they've worked on MSBA projects, which most likely all these designers have, and you'll want somebody that has been working on previous MSBA projects, they've got all that data already pulled together because the RFS
asks for points in specific, but I'm more specific. So, I want the I would like to see a proposal that designers look and come up with some, you know, some some some good ideas on on the site and stuff like that. I'm just wondering if that's
enough time to allow that to happen. Yeah. And and there is there's also the other part of the RFS is that they're limited to the number of things that they can submit and they have to submit certain things that are part of that RFS. keeps I know it sounds like
building but that's really the only piece that they're really going to focus on is the method specific how they stand out to the other firms because the rest of it 98% of that response is so prescriptive they already have filled
everything out they already know what they're what they're going to be focusing on and most of them have already started focusing on that that's why they attend the DM walkings. They uh they scour the
MSBA just to learn more about each project, each district. Um and uh three weeks is actually in in in response to some of the the processes that we have to go through. Three weeks is actually generous. I think it's a very fair
question. Um but uh I agree with Linda. So I I agree with promise but I also agree with Linda that I think a lot of them are working on it now. A lot of them know the responses they need to do. So it's how do they to your point deal with the specific site issues right and I think three weeks might be enough for them to
deal with them but again very question also one of the things I was surprised when we were doing the uh the finalists was and I forget which group maybe it was two of the three groups but they're like oh we've been planning for this project for a year now watching all your
meetings so um that was a surprise to me um I guess it shouldn't have been a surprise but It was a surprise that like when we issue the the RFS or the RFP or whatever, like that's not when people find out about this. If that's when they found out, they probably weren't who we
wanted anyways because they were not paying enough attention. And this isn't if we were putting this on a a square piece of land like in River, you could probably get away with a lot, but this is not
short list. Secondly is that that short list takes what they know and they have to create an interview all the specifics around the site the presentation and they spent a lot of money and they have been spending a lot of time thinking about this but um it's really time on that second on that interview piece that is really time for
them to to do that correctly other questions Luke um so I got to say so anyone One of us went to a landscape
broker and said, you know, our our range is half a million dollars to million. Common sense tells us that see houses both for OPM and it states a range from 200 to 600
million. on the low end of the range. Stone built school for around $200 million. They have half the student population, right? But for us, you know, that would be a low thrills on the high end at $600
million. they will be signing up for the most expensive high school in the country and I can't um our reimbursement rate would be affected something school around 400
that was our school that was our school and in fact I'll also say that Madison Park is probably going to come out the six or 700 million dollar range. Uh another project we're doing, Brockton is going to be probably north of six. So there
are other projects out there um in in this in the Commonwealth that are going to be in that range. But I agree with you. I think we you know it's all going to be based on enrollment because enrollment is going to set uh the size of the school and that is going to be about the chapter 74 programs we choose.
So those will all kind of set the square footage and from there we can determine what the you know what the cost might be based on the square footage because we have a lot of data with that and the MSBA has a lot of that. And Luke, based on your same question from the last RFS,
I had a conversation with MSBA about that range and we talked about the intention being that we don't know what this project exactly is, whether we're staying here, whether we're renovating, whether we're building something completely new. And so the range was
intended to reflect sort of our willingness and openness to hear what the options are. and the MSBA was completely satisfied with that answer and we moved right along. So, um I I don't think that designers and op like
you all saw that same number. I hope that's what it said to you. Um but that certainly was the impression of everybody who came through the tour was like, yeah, there's a lot of things that could happen here. That's partly why it's so desirable based on what people
are telling us in these in the walkthroughs. Like people are salivating over this project because there's like something for literally everybody. Like oh if you like a tight site, we've got that. If you like a a site that's surrounded by wetlands, we've got that.
Like if you are like a logistics moving expert, this is the place for you. Like there's just something really in and you know we have one egress. We have all these things that are like really appealing. So um I think that that didn't you know we didn't get a single
question about that. And so my question is do we have the opportunity to adjust the operating um for this upcoming test? I think the question is why would we do that? What the response would be for the
sticker shock? Sticker shock to who? to the people that would be steing tax increases. We aren't asking for tax increases right now. I'm saying $600 million would be the
most expensive school in the country in Los Angeles. Um I don't think we should be open to I think that's a matter of opinion. So, absolutely. Um, if you would like to
make a motion, we can vote on it. Um, but that's up to you. Um, I'd like to make a motion to adjust the upper. Okay. So, there's a motion on the floor by Luke to adjust the upper bound to
$400 million. Can I ask a question? Sure. If if you if you adjust it to 400 million and if you betting or whatever and then estimates come on, there's different alternatives, but one of the alternatives 100 million. Does that take the alternative out? You can't even
because it's out of your range. No, I think there guidelines in the NFS. The weather could go higher or lower than those guidelines. Um what what it what it's really made for I believe that what the range does is it tells the architects that you know this is a
middle project right architects that have done four to 600 million projects gate but it's it's telling them the range these projects can fall in and am I qualified to to build to construct the project
so there is a motion on the floor is there a second. Can I um through the chair? Mayor, Luke can hear Luke. So, what is the motion to not to not exceed 400 million? The motion is to change the language in
the RFS so that the upper number in the RFS is 400 million instead of 600 million. It's just about what is being published in the RFS field. What was that, Mayor?
To to left field just so I can I mean I've been paying attention, but when you said Brockton was more along the lines of 600 million, how many students is that comparable to the number we we have certified? Quite a bit more. Quite a bit
more. Probably could be even double. Yeah. Number here is 500 close to 500 million. Yeah. And they have what is the enrollment? Is it 1500?
14 I think it's 1450. So that's about the same as our design enrollment. Yep. And that's 497. Yeah. What's going to happen with the site? Right. There's a lot that's going to go into this that we don't know yet. I think this is the time for limits on
us. You know, the I don't think this is the time to put limits on us. You know, it's like keep it open and certainly like I I'm sure costs will be carefully scrutinized, but it's a requirement. Yeah. I mean, this MSBA will definitely
We have a $600 million project. The MSBA says that doesn't match your enrollment or that it might include things they're not even reimbursing us for like a new pool or um the administrative offices. I mean, I'm sure we'll be looking at that carefully. I think it's the most important piece is as Jim says is it
guides you to the the capacity and experience of the architectural firm, right? If if you put it too low, you run the risk of getting firms that are smaller, that are used to
designing elementary schools that are in the 50 to 150 range, right? And so the the numbers in the RFS for us and we take it the same way is just a guidance of the size of the project because like
you said it comes down to the enrollment. It comes down to so many different parts and pieces. I I'm going to agree that probably 600 is too high based on where I think we might come in. But would would I change anything yet? Probably not. That probably where I could.
Can I ask a question? Sure. So, um I I've only paid enough attention to know that sometimes the MSBA because of inflation will be generous and make adjustments.
Um but that's assuming the economy is doing okay. Um so, you know, if if inflation, we saw a chart. Um I don't know whose chart it was. I think it was yours. you know, 13, 14,
15% a year increase. Um, and you know, if we do see them at risk, we're going to call the do the number and that's going to be the number and that's great. But, um, until we've
gotten to that point, we have no idea what that inflation that's not in a year. We're not doing that in a year. So if we look at another 15 or more percent increase between now and then,
that's a a lot of money. And so I'm concerned that if we set a number too low, things go up 25%, which by the way is not unimaginable in this weird world we live in right now. We will not we will instead just be deciding which
programs we're cutting. That's what we'll do. that is the only path that will go forward is we will just decide we're going to skip this vocational program. We're going to stop having before and after or preschool in the building or whatever.
Um theater as tinier theater. Um where are Tara's going to take us? Well, yeah, I have no idea. Can anybody get to that? Right. I would love to know. The team. So that that's my concern is that I don't a $600 million project today.
Like if it was just built right this second is not an appropriate project for Medford's size or it's you know financial demographics. Um, but what does it look like in five years? Um, or
four years, three years, like whatever number makes me happy. Um, is is just unimaginable because I think that it's like if you had told me we were paying $10 for a carton of eggs two or three years ago, I would have been like, you're a lunatic, right? Um, and and
here we are. So, I don't want us to like get all the way through and stumble because we decided something what would have been two or three years ago. Um, and maybe we will get to that point and it'll be $600 million and the voters will be like, "We just can't do it." And
that that's always an option, but I'd rather they have the option to do that rather than to sell a project. This is exactly the process we go through, right? options and and and and making sure the numbers marry those options and scope marries Mary's budget.
So these are all things these are all the things we're going to contemplate over the next two years together. Yep. And every I will also say with 100% certainty that any number that we give to anyone for a bud from a budget
standpoint is always calculated for the future. So in in terms of you're in your starting feasibility study right now, we have roughly 26 months for that. So that's two years and then you're going to have another year of design. And so most likely your project would not
actually bid out for construction until 20 late 27 28, right? And so every number that any of the design firms or any of us ever project or tell you is always going to have the dreaded word
escalation in it because we have to tell you we're going to tell you what it's going to potentially cost to build this in 2028. Not today. But in on the flip side of that, what makes it very dangerous is when people go on the MSBA website and
they look and they say, "Oh, this project was built for $150 million." Well, that was in 2007 that it was bid out. But because construction takes two, three, four years, things shift. So it's it's very important especially in a time
like this with the historical data as you saw in our chart in our proposal that there's huge drastic changes right now that have been happening in the last two to three years. We are most likely never going to see them come down. What
we can see is hopefully some leveling out for various different reasons. There's going to be some gives and takes. Right now everybody's all about the tariffs. We don't know where the tariffs are going to be in three months. they might go away. But then on the flip side, the market right now is great for biders and we've seen lower numbers come
in. So, you know, there's a lot of different things that are going to play into this. But again, this is not something that's going to be determined today or when you ask for proposals from the design firms. They're not in charge
of that direction. It is strictly just to give guidelines for what the project size could be. Not that it should be or won't be. Aarin, did you have your hand up? Yeah. So, I think when it comes to like what you're talking about like the
overall costs over time, those things are just going up justly speaking. I think that there is a misunderstanding about like what things are looking like 15 20 years ago versus now. And I think that it's tough to navigate because of all the question about tariffs. I think that even when you think about like the political landscape and how we there's
such a flux in how things are going up and things are down. A lot of organizations at the federal level and state level are all holding on to their money because of the question marks that they're having. I'm seeing this like with the work that I do where like state funding and grant fund proposals and things like that. But like um and I've been doing some work on this like
technical vote the Roxberry neighborhood there are about a thousand like 200 kids or so by Desessie's information. They're looking at a $700 million bill. That's their current proposal. So, same thing with Lexington High. Now, that's a much bigger population. I think it's like 23 2400 students, but they're looking at a
660 million build. Uh, so I think that like the costs are just randomly going up. I do think that like obviously there are bills that are much cheaper for a higher student population, but they are going higher. So, I think to put a cap at this early stage feels like we're going to limit ourselves before we
really got started. I don't disagree that $600 million feels like a really high number, but our amount of students aren't projected, but that limit feels like a bit of a quick decision this early on personally. Luke, so uh Wam is a great example. Um I
looked at wall fans RFS's um and they actually set a lower bound um when they initially saw how designs um and then in the course of their project things changed. They I think they changed the site. they had some
like zoning issue and the uh there was more blasting and so the price escalated and I think it ultimately topped out at like 180 $380 million but their RFS range was much smaller than that they
weren't talking about 400 million high school when they worked for designers and architects um I I have it somewhere here in my computer but it was like uh made up what was I think it's around I I'd have to look it up. Right. But I think I think that's
what the So it can go the other way. Right. I think that's what some of the folks are saying here. Oh yeah, I hear that. So um there is a motion on the floor, but there is not a second. Is there a second? I'll second just to feel.
Okay. So a motion on the floor by Luke, uh seconded by Aaron. Um so I will call the role. So, the motion on the floor is to reduce the upper limit to $400 million. So, I will call roll. Jenny
Graham. No. Mayor Lungo Kern. No. Mayor, I'm sorry. Could you say that again? No. No. Okay. Dr. Galooi. No. Dr. Cushing. No. Martica Brawl, no. Libby
Brown, no. Marissa Desmond, no. Maria Dorsy, yes. Brian Hillard, no. Tracy Keane, no. Emily Lazaro, no. Nicole Morurell, no. Aaron Alate, no. Luke
Pryner, yes. Joan Bowen, no. So that is two in the affirmative, 13 in the negative. Motion fails. Okay. Are there other questions or comments about the ARS? Maria, I would just like to make a comment about that
that range too. Um I think when we go out into the community and try to sell this, that 600 million number is going to hurt. I know when I first heard that we might bust 300 million, I gasped. But I'm getting used to the numbers now
after being here talking about it, finding out what other communities have spent. Um, if there is the opportunity to have a number that won't scare people because that's part of our job is going out there and selling the project to the
community. I then I I like the idea of being able to um give I think no matter what we do that those numbers are are enormous but I just think that it would be a little bit easier than 600 million to to the people.
So this is just about the RFS to get the designer on board. Our communications team will help us with that but we should not be saying this project will cost $600 million. that's not the intention of that number at this time. Um, and so we can certainly, you know,
people have questions about that, we can certainly publish some FAQs. This is this is just part of the process and it's a very very early part of that process. Um, are there any other questions, comments, thoughts about the RFS bill? Just one correction. Sure. I
think on page 11 it says contracted July 31st. the other schedule I think that so we'll align that. Okay. And these represent like the f the fastest possible scenario which will be
contingent on whether MSBA has space for us in those timelines and all of that. So that timeline could change based on their feedback as well. Are there other changes to the RFS? Is there a motion to approve the
RFS as amended? So moved by Dr. Galooi. Is there a second? Second. By Marissa Desmond. I will call the role. Um Jenny Graham. Yes. Mayor Lungo Kern. Yes. Dr. Gluci.
Yes. Dr. Cushing. Yes. Marta Brawl. Yes. Libby Brown. Yes. Marissa Desmond. Yes. Maria Dorsy. Yes. Brian Hillyard. Yes. Tracy Keane. Yes. Emily Lazaro. Yes. Nicole Morell. Yes. Aaron Leady. Yes.
Luke Pryner. Abstain. And Joan Bowen. Yes. So 14 in the affirmative, one abstension. Uh the RFS is approved as amended. Thank you. Um, so we will get that to MSBA and start working with them to try to get on the
calendar as quickly as they will let us because then the real exciting stuff happens. Um, just doing a time check. Um, we're a few minutes before the end of the meeting. Are there any other questions for our friends at left field here? And if not, is there a motion to
adjurnn? Questions? I have one. Sure. Um, what is our top of mind as a community? That is a great question. I don't know the answer to that. Maybe our left field friends can help us with that. Can you give us a sense of like what we should expect as a
team um in terms of meeting going forward? Yes. Uh, typically the school building committee meetings um generalize at once a month. Um, but going back to uh to your question about
capacity and eb and flow. There will be times where uh we might need to go to twice a month or there might be times where we're waiting on something and we'll skip a month. Um that is sort of generally speaking it's about button
once a month. There will be very specific dates that the MSBA has in their deadlines such as the designer selection panel. So you will have to have those members assigned to be adhering to that schedule that we have
in our presentation. And then there'll be other dates where we have to match up approvals because as a team we won't ever submit anything to the MSBA unless it's been a formal vote by the school building committee. Um because we
actually have to give the MSBA the meeting notes and the agendas and all those dates. So there could be dates where uh or or months where if we have a big submission coming up, we need the SBC's approval couple of days prior to that to give the design team enough time
to get it into uh the MSBA. So those could fluctuate a little bit, but generally speaking, it's once a month. And um the beginning stages of once the designer is on board is that educational programming and that is very detailed.
Um it's encouraged that as many people show up as possible, especially from this the SPC group. Uh but that's going to be involving the the faculty, the students, the community, parents, teachers, everyone. Um and those so
those will sort of get interspersed in between that. Um once the designers on board, they come up with what they call a work plan, which basically sort of lays out the next 20 to 24 months of what the deliverables are and what the
meetings are going to be. So that'll give you a really good idea of of time frames and and uh frequency um of all the different meetings. But we're going to be hanging out a lot. If this the diamond selection goes as
planned, do we need to vote on the third member? And if so, is that going to be you or should we go ahead and pre the school committee? The school committee votes on that is my understanding. That's correct. The school committee, not the school building committee. Is that correct? I I think it's been done
by this body, but we'll check on that. Okay. I think it's been done by this body, but um we can get to that. So my thought is right after we hopefully get approved at the uh the OPM panel, we can then set up a meeting to get a little bit more into the designer selection
process, talk about the voting of the three members and um and then moving on. So um that could be we'll get a meeting set up, an agenda set out all around the DSP process and and possibly vote for three members. Okay, great. And if the school committee needs to take action, I
can give you we will follow up with that. We'll be okay in in June. So good there. Yeah, the key is is we want to make sure that it gives you enough time to have the DSP uh members assigned and have them know exactly what their
deliverables are to match those MSBA meetings. Sure. Um but yeah, I don't believe that the school committee votes um on anything for the MSBA other than enrollment questions. We'll verify verify that.
Um, is the DSP I know the DSP is the three folks that go and have their votes. Are they the only ones that are actually in participate in doing this election? Yes. So, if you get 30 respondents, only those three people are allowed to sit and do that work. We'll talk about what
happened. We can talk about what comes in as a group, what people saw. We can talk about that. But the three people that are the ones that talk at the DSP, but we can talk as a group and what we what the you know what the general committee liked and disliked about the respondents. Okay. Right.
We get 30 responses. We'll need that. Right. Well, that's nice. I mean, even the 10 responses, it's like just I mean, we added people because there's so much. Yeah. There any other questions from the
group? There a motion. I assume this is confidential. What's that? I assume this is confidential. Um, it is a matter of public record. Um, but if somebody would like a copy of that, you can ask them to send a records request and we will share
it that way until the contract is signed. Motion to motion by Tracy, seconded by Emily. I think I kept everyone here with my questions. Um, okay. I'll call the role. Jenny
Graham, yes. Mayor Londo Kern, yes. Dr. Glooy, yes. Dr. Cushing, yes. Marta Brawl, Libby Brown, yes. Marissa Desmond, Maria Dorsy, yes. Brian Hillard, Tracy Keane, yes. Emily Lazaro,
Nicole Morurell, yes. Aaron, Luke Pryner, and Joan Bowen.